Small Antennas for Communication Over Sea Ice.

• Main Author: Mileski, Paul
• Other Authors: DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY WASHINGTON DC
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1993
• Subjects: Electrical and Electronic Equipment; Radiofrequency Wave Propagation; *DIPOLE ANTENNAS; *RADIO WAVES; *COMMUNICATION AND RADIO SYSTEMS; INVENTIONS; RADIO SIGNALS; SEA ICE; SURFACES; TRANSMITTING; WAVEGUIDES; WIRE; PATENT APPLICATIONS; OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS; NOISE(RADIO); ACOUSTIC ATTENUATION; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADD016206; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADD016206

The invention described herein relates to an antenna system which makes use of the waveguide properties of sea ice. The antenna system broadly includes at least one antenna wire extending along and preferably in contact with a sea ice surface for transmitting and receiving substantially vertically polarized radio waves. In a first embodiment, the antenna system has a single antenna wire connected to a tuner at one end and grounded to seawater at a second end. The antenna system also has a second length of wire attached to the tuner. The second wire passes through a hole in the sea ice and is also grounded to the seawater beneath the sea ice. In an alternative embodiment, only the second wire is grounded to the seawater beneath the sea ice. The single antenna wire in this embodiment is ungrounded. In yet another embodiment, the antenna system comprises a dipole antenna wire laying on the surface of the sea ice and being connected to a radio for transmitting and receiving radio signals.